How to Decode Credit Card Number

Have you ever tried to decode your credit card number? You might have used your 16 digit credit card frequently while shopping online but never thought to find out what is the meaning of these 16 digit numbers and how these numbers were determined.

Before proceeding further, let me tell you one thing that this 16 digit number assigned to every credit card is not randomly generated. They actually refer various identification related to the bank providing the credit card and the customer who is carrying the credit card. Let’s explore the complete meaning of the 16 digits of a credit card.

How To Decode The 16 Digits of Your Credit Card

You might have noticed a 16 digit number in every debit card or credit. This 16 digit number has its own meaning and here is the complete explanation.

Now the first 2 digits identify the Major Industry Identifier (MII) number, which is nothing but the Credit Card company identification number. Among this 2 digits, in case 4 is the first digit then it’s a VISA card, 5 stands for MasterCard and 37 for AMEX and 38 for Diners Club.

The next few digits are the Issuer Identification Number (IIN) or the Bank Identification Number (BIN), followed by the account number. yes, your credit card has an account number attached to it and that you can find out in case you have created online banking access for your credit card also.

The last digit or the last 2 digits make up check digit(s) used as a security/verification number. The number of digits used to indicate the bank account and check numbers vary depending on the Credit Card company.

Here is an example to explain whatever I have said above:

E.g. your credit card 16 digit number is like 4005-5003-9901-8803 and in that case the meaning of these numbers will be as below.

This is a Visa card starting with digit 4

4005-50 is Issuer Identification Number (IIN) or Bank specific number

03-9901-880 is the credit card account number

2 is the check digit

Now it’s your turn to decode your credit card number and find out these information. Do share your thoughts on this by writing a simple comment below.